Friday, December 09, 2005

"It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like" Fat Man Day

I jest. Outside, dry. Snow? Gone. I won't even bother with a picture.

It snow-rained for about 15 minutes yesterday. Winter? Lake Tahoe no habla winter. Cold, yes. Very. If my best friend from HS were to come up and visit I think she'd resemble the Michelin Man trying to deal with the whopping 28 degree weather this morning. (MJ your description of you in Paris had me rolling. Pun not intended...)

Tim saw me writing my "fat man" cards and commented, "I should get around to doing that, some year." I'll stop quoting cuz I'm no good at remembering exact words but he said something like, 'what would I write? Merry xmas from Scrooge?' We're all obviously not in the same spirit of the holiday. At work we decorated for autumn. Winter stuff is hard as a "public" facility can't have too much in the way of specific icons that would offend anyone. So at one branch there are poinsettias (sp?) at the other are the little pumpkins from autumn. My coworkers don't really feel like it's 16 days and counting.

16 days?!? I've gotta get a move on...fat man cards, little gifts...I had a plan, once. I'm not sure what's happened to it. Why did xmas in the tropics seem more festive? I don't own a television, so it's not like I'm being inundated with the horrid commercial aspect of it all (I hate hate hate that. I used to fly down to my dad's little itty bitty town in San Simon, Michoacan and do the midnight mass and laying of baby jesus (that's "he(soft e) sus) in the manger and trying not to burn anyone with the candles or sparkelers. That was xmas. Being around family and just being happy everyone was doing well.

Last year, my first xmas "alone," I ran away to Tahoe from Hilo to my friend Andy's house so he and I could run up to the middle of nowhere (our friend Randy's house) to have a pseudo-fat man day. Randy was raised Jewish. He had xmas decorations galore and we made tamales from scratch, eating sometime after 2 am. I had a blast!

The drive home was quite memorable, involving us, in a 2WD Corolla outrunning a snowstorm, adventuring down/up a "local road," blasting out a tire, and meeting some really nice folk in Susanville. Warm place in my heart for Susanville.

This year? I think I might end up working xmas eve just to avoid thinking about "the most wonderful time of the year..." (as an aside, when I think of that song, it's been forever transformed for me by the Staples commercial. You know the one they played like, a decade ago, in August where the dad was running down the aisles, jumping and dancing while his kids are s-l-o-w-l-y dragging their feet behind? It was a back-to-school sale or something? Yeah, you 'member.)

Okay, starting the day now...

2 comments:

Jillio said...

dahahaha!!! i remember that staples commercial! loved it! ahahahahahahahah!!!
though i confess i like christmas the most out of all the holidays even though it's highly retail-oriented. i guess it has to do with actually spending it in snow a couple of times, enjoying the changing of the seasons to winter (when i was in college), going home for the holidays when i was in college, wrestling season, lots of stuff...i guess my time at college could be my "formative" years? idk.
as much as i hate how sometimes the holiday traffic interferes with my daily commute and everyday errands, as well as the stress on my wallet and personal sanity, i would rather spend the holidays not working than working. but that's just me.
i don't do cards, but i absolutely love the ones with pictures. idk.
it's so close! i'm still stuck somewhere in may...time sure does fly.

Birdsong said...

I bought paper for the printer, hoping to put some photos together and mail out something like a card, but about half the years, the time just gets away from me and they wouldn't even still qualify as "new years" cards, ha ha. I am hoping for lots of real snow to stick around so I can get over and ride for the day!